Involvement of CN V from a cerebellopontine mass lesion often results in loss of the ipsilateral (same side of the body) corneal reflex, or involuntary blink.
The only statistically significant risk factor for developing an acoustic neuroma is having a rare genetic condition called neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2).
In 2011, an arm of the World Health Organization released a statement listing cell phone use as a low grade cancer risk.
Two predisposing factors associated with meningiomas for which at least some evidence exists are exposure to ionizing radiation (cancer treatment of brain tumors) and hormone replacement therapy.
The most common cerebellopontine angle (CPA) tumor is a vestibular schwannoma affecting cranial nerve VIII (80%), followed by meningioma (10%).
The cranial nerves affected are (from most common to least common) : VIII (cochlear component), VIII (vestibular component), V Subsequent to diagnosis of sensorineural hearing loss, and differential diagnosis of retrocochlear or neural etiologies, radiological assessment of the CPA is performed to assess the presence of anatomical retrocochlear lesions.
The auditory brainstem response (ABR) test gives information about the inner ear (cochlea) and nerve pathways for hearing via ongoing electrical activity in the brain measured by electrodes placed on the scalp.
Stapedius reflex (SR) and caloric vestibular response (CVR) are non-invasive otologic tests for auditory neural function.
Because acoustic neuromas, meningiomas and most other CPA tumors are benign, slow growing or non-growing, and non-invasive, observation is a viable management option.
There are three modalities of surgical treatment (excision) depending on where the anatomical location of the incision to access the tumor is made: retrosigmoid (a variant of what was formerly called suboccipital), translabyrinthine, and middle fossa.